September 05, 2008

Kent to Zürich--and Zürich answers.

I took two days off in Kent with London lawyers, and near Albion's white cliffs, in part to recover from my Monday Mayfair meeting with GeekLawyer: a gentleman, IP scholar, barrister and genuine werewolf. And today is Zürich, first established as a Roman customs post, and now a truly global city. I'm here with lawyers from firms in 35 countries or so to talk about the main event: Clients.

Clients. Remember them?

1. What are law firm partners and associates doing for clients these days, anyway?

2. Are law firms days structured economically, and in talent and human resources, to solve client problems--or just add to them?

3. Are we delivering services using models that are fair to clients?

4. Are we charging for training when we shouldn't be?

5. Are the even best clients getting shortchanged on real value when they don't need to be?

6. Is current corporate lawyering really client-oriented and customer-focused--or just a big-ass ruse?

7. And, for fun, perhaps for the Irish and Welsh members: why is Keith Richards still alive, anyway?

(But we're serious, when we think through delivering value to clients. The only Rule: we can be irreverent about anything else.)